Temple Sealing

I just arrived home from the temple where I was blessed to witness the sealing ordinance of one of my roomates here at the Boise Idaho Temple. How blessed we are to have the COMPLETE RESTORED Gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth that we can receive these sacred ordinances as God has intended them to be. I was reminded of how there is NO other way to TRUE, UNENDING Joy-that surpasseth ALL understanding. We are so limited in our understanding on our own as carnal man, but with God-ALL understanding and truth is there for us to embrace IF we do what He asks in order to receive it.

The fact that we can be SEALED, BOUND together as a couple and LINKED together - not even death that, to some, may seem the end-can divide you.

President Joseph Fielding Smith who was President of the Church previously said "As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are a most blessed and favored people. The Lord has restored to us the sealing power, the power to bind on earth and have our acts sealed eternally in the heavens. This sealing power is the same divine authorization received by Peter in fulfillment of the Lord’s promises: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19).

Any other alternative is only conterfeit to what you could be blessed with in making sure that you accept nothing less than a temple marriage-sealed and bound together not only for this life, but for the eternities. No blessing so great could be poored out upon us but by God himself-which He HAS given us if we so desire it. Confirming God's love for us in blessing us with such a power on earth to bring to pass these sacred ordinances, and that with God ALL things are possible. If you do not have the temple as your goal or have never been, I challenge you to do so-to make it a goal in your life and accept NOTHING less that those blessings you desirve from you father in Heaven. If anybody tries to keep you from those blessings, you may want to re-think your association with them.

I close with a quote from President Joseph Fielding Smith and echo my witness that what he says is true. "I thank the Lord that He has restored His everlasting gospel to us in this day. I thank Him for the sealing power returned to earth by the Prophet Elijah. I thank Him for the eternal family unit, for the privilege we have of being sealed ourselves in His holy temples. I thank him for making available these sealing blessings for our ancestors who died without a knowledge of the gospel.
What a wonderful privilege is granted to us that we may go into the temples of the Lord and perform the work of salvation for our ancestors who lived and died before the Church was established among them.
I bear testimony that the work in which we are engaged is true. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God; that he received the revelations, the priesthood, and the keys; and that he set up this Church and kingdom at the command and direction of the Lord.
I love the Lord and desire to see His earthly kingdom prosper—and it is prospering. The gospel is rolling forth in the nations of the earth in a marvelous manner; we are identifying our progenitors and performing the ordinances of salvation and exaltation for them by virtue of the sealing power which we now possess." (Every Soul Is Precious, Joseph Fielding Smith, BYU Devotional, January 12, 1971)

Flubs and return of the lost binder

STAR*, AT @, POUND#, CARET ^, FLUB*~,...CLUB FLUB **~...

You wouldn't know I just counted to five...I mean flub...just now, would you? I just got out of math class where we have been counting using this new base 5 number system my professor introduced to us last week: those words and symbols are the beginning of the number system. It is actually a number system that already exists called x-mania. Our professor introduced it to us in hopes that we would better understand what our students might be feeling learning a completely new number system. It has been interesting and humbling to be put in that position and I definitely have a different perspective on what my students are going through and will be going through as they learn, in essence, another language of mathematics. I better understand why Heavenly Father gives us certain experiences that humble us and help us understand what someone else might have to go through: what they are experiencing-that we might have empathy and ultimately be more like our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for experiences like these that deepen my understanding of truth. I truly stand all amazed when I think how well Heavenly Father knows us and knows what daily tutorials we need. I know I have said that ALOT, but I just am amazed EVERY TIME I am blessed to be able to witness it, through the power of the Spirit, how well he does know us and knows EXACTLY what we need to learn the lessons we need.

So, I posted the other day about something of great value (not of monetary value, but alot of paperwork that we turn at the end of the month) that had disappeared and we couldn't figure out what happened to it. Well, this morning it was back in the same spot it was taken from. Sarah (my assistant teacher) and I couldn't figure out how it got back. Sarah was a little upset because she had just spent a good part of her day yesterday making up a new binder and trying to piece together everything that was missing from the first part of the month. She thought someone had played a joke on us and was saying 'that was not very funny' over and over as she went about doing her daily morning duties. I told her we can't dwell on those things and let them eat at us. We ended up finding out later in the day how it had ended up back in our possession and it happened to be that another teacher there had picked it up accidentally with their things and when they realized what it was, they brought it back down to the secretary who returned it to our possession.


Again, so many lessons to be learned from all of this. All works out as it should in the end. I think of the end of Alma, after all these wars had transpired and the state of those who survived the events. Alma 62:41 "...because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility." Again, it is just a binder with some paper that was taken: really not THAT important in the eternal scheme of things. What IS important is how we deal with the situation. We have two choices ALWAYS. It is up to us what we do with what we have.

Cake, Temples and mists of darkness

Wow, I can't believe it has been three days since I have written. I will give a brief recap as to what I have been doing during that time, so you can see why I have slacked. :) Friday I wasn't feeling really well-my body has been fighting off some kind of illness that has been trying to attack me for a few weeks now-so I came home after work and slept and relaxed for a few hours while I did laundry then I went to a 'Cake' party at my friend's house. It was her birthday the day before and she had a party and everyone could bring a cake to share. My roomate brought one from our apartment.
It was fun-we ate cake and talked with friends, met some new people, had some good laughs. I went home a little early as I was getting up early in the morning to go to the temple with my friend Kay Dee. (I finally found someone who loves to go in the wee small hours of the morning to the temple. :) Hooray!!)

The Boise Temple is a beautiful temple-as our all of the temples-in their unique-ness in architecture. It reminds me of the Las Vegas Temple-even though exteriors are in contrast-the basic structure shape reminds me of Las Vegas. (Does anybody else see it?) I remember when I was in primary, they were making plans for the building of the Las Vegas Temple (where we lived at the time) and had a donation can where we could donate money to help build the temple. I can remember bringing my money from home to primary that Sunday and sitting in my chair eager with anticipation to go and put it in the donation can. They had a metal soup can that they had wrapped paper around and put a picture of the temple on the front. They had it sitting on the podium in the front of the room. I can vividly remember making that walk up to the front of the room and putting my money in (it was only a hand full of change) and walking back to my seat. I can remember making that walk, and I remember how good I felt as I made the walk back to my seat. I can't believe I can remember that....my memories of my youth are a little ketchy, so I am glad I was able to remember it.

When we were on our way to the temple yesterday morning, there was a thick blanket of fog across the valley limiting our vision to what we could see ahead of us. Where buildings and stoplights we could see easily in the distance, we could not see until we were right on top of them almost. I commented to Kay Dee, in jest, that it was like the mist of darkness in the writtne account of Lehi's dream.

Of all of the different groups Lehi speaks of in this vision, everyone of them had to get through the mist of darkness to get to the rod. 1 Nephi 8:23, "...there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost. v24 "... beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree." I had been thinking about this recently and realized I had always understood it to be that only those who fell away had to travel through the mist of darkness, as they fell away from the path, when in reality, everyone had to travel through it just as we did on our way to the temple. Just as we do in everyday life, we have to wade our way through the mist of darkness-sometimes in the very thick of it. I understand with greater intensity than before the need for us to CLING to the rod like never before, as it will be what keeps us on the path back to our Heavenly Father, to partake of that fruit that "is most precious and most desireable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God. And thus I spake unto my brethren."

The one you feed

Well, as I am trying to be more consistent in posting on here, I am writing a quick note on my way to bed. (7 am meeting-every Friday morning for Institute Committee) Tloday was a busy day and I arrived home about a half hour ago. It started out busy with work. Apparently someone walked away with a very important binder of ours (only the morning class) full of paperwork we were supposed to turn in with our end-of-the-month work to our supervisor, only to find out today that we have to try to reproduce all the information that was in it and recall all that was in it. Initially I was disturbed that we couldn't find it and wondering what someone would want with what I feel is useless information to them? I thought we would just let our supervisor know what happened and we would just have to post that it was missing and that would be that. I found out this morning that we had to reproduce all of it. My schedule is already jam packed and I was beginning to feel a little stressed as to WHEN we were going to do this. I started getting angry that because of a decision someone else made, I was going to have to pay. As I was wallowing, I was reminded (John 14:26) of what I was to learn from this. Now, I know that this in NO WAY compares to some injustices I know have come upon friends and family: but I feel on a much smaller scale, the principle is the same and could be applied in any given situation where the feeling might be the same: of having to pay for someone else's decisions. I think we will/have encounter(ed) that at some time or numerous times in our lives we will be faced with how we will react in that situation: what wolf will we feed? I remember a story I heard years back about a comparison to the decision we make daily of how we will react in given situations: that there are two wolves inside each of us. It is said to be an old cherokee story.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a Battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, The battle is between two 'wolves'inside us all.".

One is Evil.It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret,Greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentmentInferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.The other is Good.It is joy, peace, love, hope,Serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,Empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."The grandson thought about it for a minuteAnd then asked his grandfather,"Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied,"The one you feed."

I also thought of a story President Hinckley shared a few conferences back about forgiveness. (October 2005) It was a story from the Deseret News of woman who had a 20 pound turkey thrown at the windshield of her car while she was driving, as some kind of prank on the young man's part. Here is the portion of that talk. A little bit lengthy, but well worth the re-read or read for some.

"A time back, I clipped a column from the Deseret Morning News, written by Jay Evensen. With his permission, I quote from a part of it. Wrote he:
“How would you feel toward a teenager who decided to toss a 20-pound frozen turkey from a speeding car headlong into the windshield of the car you were driving? How would you feel after enduring six hours of surgery using metal plates and other hardware to piece your face together, and after learning you still face years of therapy before returning to normal—and that you ought to feel lucky you didn’t die or suffer permanent brain damage?
“And how would you feel after learning that your assailant and his buddies had the turkey in the first place because they had stolen a credit card and gone on a senseless shopping spree, just for kicks? …
“This is the kind of hideous crime that propels politicians to office on promises of getting tough on crime. It’s the kind of thing that prompts legislators to climb all over each other in a struggle to be the first to introduce a bill that would add enhanced penalties for the use of frozen fowl in the commission of a crime.
“The New York Times quoted the district attorney as saying this is the sort of crime for which victims feel no punishment is harsh enough. ‘Death doesn’t even satisfy them,’ he said.
“Which is what makes what really happened so unusual. The victim, Victoria Ruvolo, a 44-year-old former manager of a collections agency, was more interested in salvaging the life of her 19-year-old assailant, Ryan Cushing, than in exacting any sort of revenge. She pestered prosecutors for information about him, his life, how he was raised, etc. Then she insisted on offering him a plea deal. Cushing could serve six months in the county jail and be on probation for 5 years if he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault.
“Had he been convicted of first-degree assault—the charge most fitting for the crime—he could have served 25 years in prison, finally thrown back into society as a middle-aged man with no skills or prospects.
“But this is only half the story. The rest of it, what happened the day this all played out in court, is the truly remarkable part.
“According to an account in the New York Post, Cushing carefully and tentatively made his way to where Ruvolo sat in the courtroom and tearfully whispered an apology. ‘I’m so sorry for what I did to you.’
“Ruvolo then stood, and the victim and her assailant embraced, weeping. She stroked his head and patted his back as he sobbed, and witnesses, including a Times reporter, heard her say, ‘It’s OK. I just want you to make your life the best it can be.’ According to accounts, hardened prosecutors, and even reporters, were choking back tears” (“Forgiveness Has Power to Change Future,” Deseret Morning News, Aug. 21, 2005, p. AA3).

Somehow forgiveness with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.

The great Atonement was the supreme act of forgiveness. The magnitude of that Atonement is beyond our ability to completely understand. I know only that it happened, and that it was for me and for you. The suffering was so great, the agony so intense, that none of us can comprehend it when the Savior offered Himself as a ransom for the sins of all mankind.
It is through Him that we gain forgiveness. It is through Him that there comes the certain promise that all mankind will be granted the blessings of salvation, with resurrection from the dead. It is through Him and His great overarching sacrifice that we are offered the opportunity through obedience of exaltation and eternal life.
May God help us to be a little kinder, showing forth greater forbearance, to be more forgiving, more willing to walk the second mile, to reach down and lift up those who may have sinned but have brought forth the fruits of repentance, to lay aside old grudges and nurture them no more."(quoted by President Gordon B. Hinckley, General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, October 2005)

Granted, I did not get a 20 pound turkey thrown at my window, or lose a loved one because someone was driving drunk, or any number of events that have transpired and will continue to transpire daily as we struggle with our humanity. But, I do feel with what happened and with all the myriad of other things that have happened to my brothers and sisters: the principle of forgiveness is the same. For this knowledge and the opportunity to be reminded of it, I am grateful.

nine days, field trips and the scriptures

Nine days...it has been nine days since I have written. Also it is nine days, my roomate reminded me, until the day of her wedding. Seemed like an appropriate day to post something. I attempted yesterday only to blunder and hit a button that deleted EVERYTHING that had taken me 20 minutes to write initially. (Boo hoo, I know) I gave up after that and went to bed. I know, what kind of dedication is that?! I strive to be better. :) Here I am.

Today was our long awaited field trip to the United States Post Office. For WEEKS we have been waiting in anticipation as we have slowly inched closer to the little yellow school bus on the calendar on the wall of our classroom. "How many more days until we go?", "Is today the day we go teacher? Today was it. In connection with Valentine's day, each child wrote a letter (with a teacher's help) to someone they love: parents, siblings, aunts. They were very sweet and coated with heart stickers and drawings. The first part of this week we worked on addressing our envelopes and getting our stamps on in the correct spot. They were so excited, although some were saddened to learn we wouldn't be keeping the letters-that we had to put them in a mail slot and not get to take them directly home. That is a normal feeling when you put so much work into something, only to give it away.

On our trip we got to go on a little tour of the post office: we were able to see our letters go into the mail slot and watch others come out the other side. We saw the inside of a mail carrier truck, mail slots were mail is sorted, we got to get inside the back of a semi truck full of mail that was headed off on a long journey. I think I was just as excited as the kids were to be there and experience all they did. Another reason I love being a teacher: you can still get away with things like field trips and playing dress-ups under the title of 'teacher', without too many strange looks. :) Did I mention I love my job? (I have yet to say I love all the paperwork, but I do love being in the classroom :) ) I will have to post some pictures once I download them off the camera.

It was a good day. I then couldn't keep my eyes open, so I came home and took a nap that I didn't want to wake up from. I then went to the store to get the rest of the things I needed for dinner. We had the missionaries and our hometeachers over for dinner. I love the missionaries and the spirit they bring into our home. Elder Jones shared several verses of scripture from 2 Nephi 3 where Lehi speaks prophetically of the Joseph's of old and of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ (v15-19), and he also spoke of a video he had watched recently to pre-view before showing it to an investigator. It was one by Truman Madsen concerning Lehi and his families journey to the Promised Land. Elder Jones shared his reflections on watching it: all that Lehi and past/future Prophets have gone through to bring us the word of God. He talked about all they have sacrificed so that we could have the scriptures in our hands today and receive the guidance and direction we do, and will continue to do. My impressions were caught up in the value of every sacred word written in the scriptures. A feeling of gratitude washed over me as I reflected on scriptures I have read in the past and will continue to draw strength from. I felt so blessed to have them and wanted to take them from the elder's hand and start to devour them. Not to physically INGEST them, of course: but feast from them as many prophets in the past have invited us to do. How blessed we are to have the written record of some of those who have gone before us, that we might draw from their experiences and find strength and direction in our own lives today from them.

"We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look to for a remission of their sins." 2 Nephi 25:26

LAY HOLD OF THESE THINGS and LET NOT YOUR KNEES OR JOINTS TREMBLE

I heard a quote from Joseph Smith yesterday in the Relief Society lesson on Jesus Christ that was so powerful to me and keeps ringing in my ears- I wanted to post it on here.

“Those who have died in Jesus Christ may expect to enter into all that fruition of joy when they come forth, which they possessed or anticipated here. … I am glad I have the privilege of communicating to you some things which, if grasped closely, will be a help to you when earthquakes bellow, the clouds gather, the lightnings flash, and the storms are ready to burst upon you like peals of thunder. Lay hold of these things and let not your knees or joints tremble, nor your hearts faint; and then what can earthquakes, wars and tornadoes do? Nothing. All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful."

I love the clarity of this truth and the way Joseph Smith says it. "...the privilege of communicating to you some things....IF grasped closely, will be a help to you when earthquakes bellow, the clouds gather, the lightnings flash...LAY HOLD OF THESE THINGS and LET NOT YOUR KNEES OR JOINTS TREMBLE...then WHAT CAN EARTHQUAKES, WARS AND TORNADOES DO? NOTHING. No matter what life throws at us, the power of Jesus Christ will always be more IF we join ourselves with Him. Of this I am sure. I have been in the darkness and now feel I can bask in the Light. How blessed we are to know these truths-if we don't know them to be true, our challenge is then to pray with all the energy of our heart to be able to do so. I know it will happen.

2 Nephi 2:
26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;

29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom.

Shark filled water and near heart attacks :)

I realized it has been a week since I last wrote. My work load hasn't grown any large amount really-my time has been filled with different events that have taken my usual writing time. The pendulum of my schedule has swung both ways, and now I hope it will balance out and I can find a routine that works for this semester-AND get some sleep here and there. :)

Today was a great day at work-I LOVE my job!! Have I said that enough yet?! My day is filled with laughter, hugs, songs, dancing, being silly, learning with the best group of kids-hand picked for me, for this time by my loving Heavenly Father. At the first of the year, I had a slightly different group, and because of some alterations that needed to be made so some of the children could be in a special needs class in the morning, we made some switches in the class groups. I didn't think anything of it then, but NOW I KNOW why.

Funny thing today-We had just come back from the gym where we had been running and playing with basketballs. When we come in from any kind of physical activity, we usually lay down on the carpet and catch our breath-doing some deep breathing and listening to some relaxing music. After we had been laying down for a few songs and doing some deep breathing I asked the kids to check how fast their hearts were beating, and how when we exercise our hearts go faster and how we were trying to slow down our hearts now and relax. I asked the class as a whole if their hearts were slowing down and some nodded their heads yes and one of my little girls told me, "Mine stopped." with a face as serious as could be. It was all I could do to not burst out laughing because she looked so serious-she really believed it had.

While we were playing in the gym, part of our time we were playing a game where we had to balance ourselves on the white lines of the basketball court as we pretended that the other parts were waters FILLED with sharks-that if we fell in, we would be eaten up. So, we walked around on the lines, trying not to fall in. After awhile, we had small groups that had formed that were following each other around, sometimes helping each other keep our balance and stay on the path. I was at the front of one such group and I stopped and started to lose my balance and one of my little girls behind me immediately grabbed me by my legs and braced her body against them to steady me. I was amazed! She managed to keep me from falling, this little girl who came up to just below my hips managed to brace me from falling to my death in the shark water. :) I had this thought come into my mind afterwards as we continued to walk the path: you never know who it will be who will save you-it might suprise you.
At times in our life's journey, we may find ourselves struggling and feeling like we are falling-only to be helped by someone. Someone we may not have suspected: maybe because we didn't think they cared or we perceived them to be something different. Whatever the reason: be watching. God may send someone into your life that you never thought to be the answer to your prayers.